Member of the Scottish Parliament

Scotland

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Politics and government of
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Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) (Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba (BPA) in Gaelic) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.

Contents

Methods of Election

MSPs are elected in one of two ways:

  1. First past the post constituency MSPs or;
  2. Regional additional-member MSPs

Number of Members Elected

73 are elected as constituency MSPs and 56 are elected as additional members, seven from each of eight regional groups of constituencies. This additional member system produces a form of proportional representation for each region.

Elections

All MSP positions become simultaneously vacant for elections held on a four year cycle. If a vacancy arises at another time, due to death or resignation, then it may be filled in one of two ways, depending of whether the vacancy is for a first-past-the-post constituency MSP or for an additional-member MSP.

A constituency vacancy may be filled by a by-election. An additional-member vacancy may be filled by the next available candidate on the relevant party list.

Title

An MSP is known as Name MSP (Name BPA in Gaelic). For instance, Alex Salmond can be entitled either Alex Salmond MSP or Ailig Salmond BPA.

See also